President of SEIU 2015 Laphonza Butler Named Job Quality Fellow By Aspen Institute

CALIFORNIA – Today SEIU 2015’s President Laphonza Butler was named a Job Quality Fellow by the Economic Opportunities Program (EOP) at The Aspen Institute. The Job Quality Fellowship aims to support and strengthen the work of leaders dedicated to expanding access to and availability of better quality jobs in our economy with support from The Prudential Foundation and Ford Foundation.

Selected as one of sixteen inaugural Job Quality Fellows, over the next year the Fellows will work together to extend EOP’s mission of helping people connect to quality work, build assets, and attain a stable economic standing.

“I am honored and excited for this opportunity,” said Laphonza Butler, president of SEIU 2015. “As a leader for our union’s members, I understand the importance of engaging in critical conversations with other leaders across the country focused on building a stronger environment for workers in the 21st Century. I look forward to engaging with the distinguished members of my cohort to collectively implement change on this front.”

Laphonza is the President of SEIU 2015, the largest union in California and the largest long-term care local in the country. The union has been instrumental in achieving historic victories – including the passage of the nation’s first $15 statewide minimum wage, for which Butler’s leadership was honored by President Obama. Butler also currently serves as an SEIU International Vice President and President of the SEIU California State Council.

With representational responsibility for over 325,000 home care, skilled nursing facility, and assisted living center workers, SEIU Local 2015 is the biggest long term care union in California. It is our mission to unleash the collective power of long term care workers, their families, and their communities, harness the power of technology, and build a broad movement to disrupt the unjust status quo in order to bring lasting transformational change towards a more just society for all.